Dissolving the Dangers of Sugar Loaded Drinks

17 November, 2014

Dissolving the Dangers of Sugar Loaded Drinks

New Zealand’s battle of the bulge is getting bigger and sugar loaded drinks are a key culprit.

But instead of putting water in the picnic basket an alarming number of Kiwis continue to put the switch from fizzy and fruit juice to plain H20 in the too hard basket.

Commonwealth gold medal champion Beatrice Faumuina points out that on average 50 people are diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in New Zealand everyday.

“We are now seeing children as young as 10 being diagnosed with diabetes which is devastating. One of the proven contributing factors to this epidemic is sugar loaded drinks,” she says.

To encourage healthy drinking habits in everyone, Just Water has launched its popular enhanced water, VitaBlast®, in the greater Wellington region. Unlike many other so-called health drinks, VitaBlast® is Vitamin C enhanced and has no added sugar.

“VitaBlast® provides those who want to move away from sweet sugar loaded drinks with a healthy alternative,” says Ian Ormiston, CEO, Just Water International Limited.

The delicate lemon and lime flavoured water has virtually zero calories and is suitable for everyone.

“Children love it, those who are trying to control their weight love it, and those wanting to keep hydrated and like their water to have a flavour love it,” says Ian.

Beatrice Faumuina, who partnered with Just Water many years ago to help people understand the dangers of sugar loaded drinks, says lots of people drink fruit juice for the Vitamin C and health benefits.

“What they are not aware of is that a litre of fruit juice has approximately 26 teaspoons of natural occurring sugar. Also where Vitamin C is known to help with the immune system unfortunately one teaspoon of sugar will suppress the immune system for up to forty minutes,” she says.

All of the ingredients in VitaBlast® have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Just Water’s bottling facilities hold international accreditations, including being the only bottled water delivery company in New Zealand to be ABWI (Australasian Bottled Water Institute) and HACCP (food safety management system) certified.

VitaBlast® is available to homes and workplaces in 15L water cooler bottles via Just Water’s Home Delivery service.

The company also delivers its ultra pure filtered water, Aquafresh®, in the greater Wellington region. Aquafresh® is bottled under rigorous conditions with Health Authority approval and is meticulously double filtered, chlorine free and sterilised to the highest international standards.

Just Water is currently providing households with a free water cooler on loan, valued at $350 per year.

Ian Ormiston says Just Water’s Home Delivery service is more affordable than any other retail drinking water option available and offers the convenience of great tasting, refreshing water or VitaBlast® delivered right to your door.

“The water is chilled, tastes great and doesn’t take up valuable fridge space plus you don’t have the problem of the environmental impact of smaller plastic bottles,” he says.

“Our aim is to get people to change their habits. Instead of spending their hard-earned money on fizzy drinks or ridiculously expensive bottled waters, they can fill up on good quality bottled water at home for less than half the price,” he says.

Beatrice Faumuina adds that if families have a water cooler at home, kids will drink from it and enjoy it.

“I and my family drink VitaBlast® now every day from our water cooler and love it,” she says.

Following the successful introduction of VitaBlast® to Auckland and Hamilton in 2008, Ian Ormiston says many Wellington residents who had tried the drink in these areas hadbeen asking Just Water to bring it to the nation’s capital.

“VitaBlast® has been a success in the Auckland market for a few years now, so launching in Wellington was a natural step,” he says.

The product is proving popular in Wellington and Ian Ormiston says he is delighted that Just Water is satisfying its customers whilst doing its part in reducing the amount of sugar loaded drinks being consumed by New Zealanders.

“There is a lot of talk about obesity and how overweight New Zealanders are. We are doing our little bit to help fight this issue, by encouraging people to drink great tasting water or VitaBlast® instead of sugary alternatives,” he says.

ENDS

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